I, Robot (2004) Movie Information:

I, Robot (2004) Directed by: Alex Proyas I, Robot (2004) Written by: Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Vintar I, Robot (2004) Cast: Will Smith, Alan Tudyk, Bridget Moynahan, Chi McBride, Bruce Greenwood, James Cromwell, Shia LaBeouf, Adrian Ricard, Jerry Wasserman, Fiona Hogan

I, Robot (2004) U.S. Distributor: 20th Century Fox I, Robot (2004) U.K. Distributor: 20th Century Fox

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I, Robot (2004) Synopsis:

The year is 2035. Detective Del Spooner is sent to an experimental space station to investigate the death of brilliant, eccentric scientist Dr. Alfred Lanning. Spooner is aided by psychologist Dr. Susan Calvin, and the death is initially labeled a suicide. Spooner, though, suspects that a robot may have perpetrated the crime. That seems unthinkable since robots are governed by The Three Laws of Robotics, which state that a robot may never harm or allow harm to come to a human being. As Spooner and Calvin investigate the death, they come to believe that a robot did, in fact, commit the crime. They are aided in their investigation by Dr. Lanning himself, who appears as a hologram, and reveals that he was working on a top secret project at the time of his death.

I, Robot (2004) Movie Review:

Chicago 2035, USR are about to have their biggest product rollout with the introduction of their new robot, the NS-5. Things don’t go according to plan when the father of modern robotics Dr. Alfred Lanning (Cromwell) commits suicide. Detective Del Spooner (Smith) is assigned the case and on investigation of the crime scene he finds the only witness to the event, Dr. Lanning’s personal robot Sonny (Tudyk). But the way the robot is acting brings him to think of the impossible. Has a robot actually gone against its programming and actually murdered a human being?

As technology advances and the possibility of robots in every home looks more than likely to become a reality, this movie asks “can we ever truly trust artificial intelligence with our lives?” According to I, Robot answer is a definite no.

The filmmakers have cleverly developed a sci-fi murder mystery based on Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics and this is the major plus point of the movie. This is an event movie with a plot. Now don’t gasp and faint when you read those words but Hollywood might just be waking up to the fact that the viewing public might actually want to have more than just pointless filler between their action sequences. ‘I, Robot’ has the big, explosive special effects events but interweaving them together is a twisting and turning murder mystery that will keep you guessing until the action packed finale. It also stays away from many of the clichéd plotlines of the genre by not making too many statements and just sticking to the one continuous theme, will artificial intelligence be able to evolve?

Besides from the twisty-turny plot, the special effects are magnificent. As technology progresses, filmmakers have the ability to bring anything to life on the big screen but they have to know how to use it. Director Alex Proyas and his team use SFX to the best of its ability to create a believeable vision of the future. 2035 Chicago doesn’t look too advanced with all the technology looking like it is certainly obtainable from the level of advancement we are realising today. Even the robots themselves look plausible. This is a vision of the future that you can see happening very easily and this is what makes the movie so intriguing.

A good plot and amazing visuals are backed up by some good performances. There are two versions of Will Smith, the big budget, overly confident Big Willy (Bad Boys II, Wild, Wild West etc) and the character driven thespian William (Ali, Six Degrees of Separation etc). For this movie we get a combination of the two to create a slightly quieter, more likeable character. Detective Del Spooner is a slightly clichéd movie cop that is a little out of place in this futurist setting but as the story progresses you realise that this is integral to the plot. This is another strength of the movie as the audience easily connects with Smith’s character and you can understand his apprehensiveness against the robots. There are some times that he does get slightly too much but this isn’t enough to deter you from the character. Bridget Moynahan continues to make a name for herself as Dr Susan Calvin. Her character has most of the techno-babble of the piece and she copes with this extremely well. The role might see her as the typical nerd out of the lab during the action sequences but Moynahan really grows into the character as the film progresses. There is also good support from the ever brilliant and totally underrated Bruce Greenwood as USR CEO Lawrence Robinson and Chi McBride as the sceptical Lt. Bergin.

Stealing the show is the performance of Alan Tudyk as Sonny. Done in the much same way as Andy Serkis did with Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, Tudyk creates a virtual performance that is replaced by the CG created character. In essence his acting is the framework for bringing Sonny to live. His vocal performance is also first rate, breathing life into Sonny but never making him too childlike or annoying.

I, Robot is first rate Hollywood entertainment. It is brilliant to see that plot is becoming important again in filmmaking and this is a movie that shows that you can mix a complex murder mystery with all the big bangs, SFX and action sequences you expect from a big budget blockbuster. Could Hollywood actually be starting to listen to the viewing public and spending their time just as much as on story as they do on creating the spectacle?

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I, Robot (2004) review written by: Rich Cline